Category: Port Loko

During December 2015, I had the privilege of working in the Public Health England (PHE) Ebola diagnostic laboratories in Port Loko and Makeni, Sierra Leone, where I met and worked with several of the local clinical laboratory staff: Hassan Bangura, Bockarie Koroma and Sorie Kargbo. I had met and worked with Hassan Bangura (picture below)…

A second deployment to the Port Loko, Sierra Leone, ETC commenced with an early morning flight on 13 December from Heathrow to Brussels and then on to Lungi Airport in Sierra Leone (ETC: Ebola Treatment Centre). The airport was the usual chaos, with more queues than immigration officials and the luggage belt was a 5-deep…

On my second day off from duties in the Port Loko ETC, JS invited JB and myself to join her on a jungle walk. Most of the team had already been on this walk and were quite effusive in their enthusiasm. So, off we went down Rotifunk road; actually more of a dirt track with…

It was a Wednesday, which made absolutely no difference as illness does not pause; we worked a 7-day cycle. Four of us had the day off (JS, CS, PF) and took off towards the local EducaAid orphanage. Head towards the road to the airport, approximately 0.8 km, they said, then turn right and walk along…

Friday morning was the first real working day and I had been allocated to the early shift, which started at 06:00 am. Not a problem on my part, as I am an early bird, but it meant trying to get a few slices of toast and some coffee before getting the bus at 05:30 am….

I’m not really sure how I decided to go to Sierra Leone, but the seeds were probably planted by an email I received from my lovely wife: “Can I please go to Sierra Leone to work in an Ebola lab?” My response was a simple “yes” – I was happy that she wanted to go,…